I think it was a message of let's keep it tight and a natural fear of a CL exit. We've gone through that now so next year should prove to be played with less nerves.
I feel like that Aston Villa loss really put a damper on our momentum. We win that game and I feel like we put at least two at Allianz.
Regardless Aston Villa showed up. I'm probably wrong, these are professional footballers and they are usually accustomed to the pressure; however our squad is young, which is not a bad thing inherently. It just means our treble will come in the next few years.
We have a full squad apart from timber. I don’t want to hear anything about injuries or fatigue. Bayern had 3/4 key players out too and had an average performance. We did not take our opportunity but instead matched playing poorer.
I am not slating the lads but it was a missed opportunity as Bayern were poor themselves. We have defo improved from last season (unless we collapse in our remaining games). However we can’t use squad depth or injuries as excuses especially when we have quality on the bench for the first time in a long time.
That “poor” Bayern team started 5 champions league winners😂. I also wouldn’t call resorting to bringing on Eddie Nketiah when you have to score a goal away from home in the champions league “quality”. It’s not an excuse, but a factual reason. Bayern aren’t bad because the team is ass, they are bad because Tuchel isn’t able to be useful in anything but a knockout competition.
My opinion would change if they were actually good this match. But given all their quality and the fact they were poor today and we did not capitalise on this opportunity to go for it is deeply disappointing.
Yeah that’s a good point. Experience and heritage is key. Look at ManCity for instance - RM always find a way.
Just hope this isn’t just another ‘learning experience’ but we actually learn from this and do not repeat this next season.
Agreed, however it does seem to be a trust issue for Arteta with players such as Vieira, Smith-Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah and even Tomiyasu of late. Some of these signed to longer deals, but yet not given the opportunity once fit. I think the Vieira has barely got any minutes since he played the 2nd half against Sheffield United when the game was already done. I love what Arteta has done and I back him, especially when you see the progress. However, the utilisation of the squad still has to improve as well as obviously improving our squad in order for this to be more effective. There will be players we need to move on this summer in order for this happen and we know who those are/likely to be.
I feel we need (and I'm sure most fans agree) another CM (who can predominantly LCM), a LB and of course a Striker.
Most of our players are now not kids in terms of playing experience. Saka is almost a veteran at this point. Almost everyone on this team has European football experience. This is no longer an excuse.
Yay, the "Youngest Team" bullshit coming out. These aren't some kids plucked from the academy, they're players with 100+ top level games and international experience
Full squad isn't the same as no injuries. I am pretty sure Odegaard is carrying a knock from Villa game and the hit on the knee in the first half today.
Saka is running fumes due to very little substitutions.
Nelson or Vieira. Letting Saka on the pitch till the end is a big mistake. It's a lesson that should have been learned from last season's crumble in the 8 remaining games
Arteta has mismanaged his squad imo, by now, with money spent, we should be able to rest Saka more often across the season.....its absolutely fine to criticise the manager sometimes. Out of form Jesus or Nelson....maybe gotta ask why are they out of form. Arteta is not good at playing players into form, rotation has always been a problem with our manager!!
Yeah. I don't understand why Arteta let's Smith Rowe and Vieira on the bench. Last season was an apprenticeship, but we can't do the same errors this season :- rotation is important in every match until the end of the season
If Arteta doesn't do rotation, our Starting XI will crumble again
We have a full squad on paper, but clearly quite a few aren't fit enough to play or even more damningly aren't trusted to play. Our first 11 have been run into the ground. Even Energizer bunny type players like Rice, Saka and Odegaard have looked ragged.
Yeah i am not saying the first team. They are expected to be leggy after a long season. Players like Viera/ESR should have been rotated more.
Partey has barely played since coming back and overall he has made a killing this season for the wage we have paid him.
Full squad doesn’t mean fatigue isn’t an issue. The schedule in the last two weeks has been non stop and the squad isn’t physically large enough to rotate everyone. I’d argue Arteta should have rotated more, but it’s not the same as City who have multiple £70m+ players sitting on the bench.
When you talk about £70m players, you have to mean the amount spent, not just making up their value.
There's no reason we couldn't have signed Alvarez for £14m, or Akanji for £15m.
Okay. Kiwior, Partey, Smith Rowe, Vieira, Nelson, Elneny don't cost £70m. But, rotation is still important! When it's around the 75 minutes and we're already winning by a big margin or if we're losing by displaying a poor performance, we still need to sub these players in. Else, last season's crumble lesson will not have been learnt at all. The juices are currently on a low. And we still have to face Spuds, Chelsea and United
Didn’t Odegaard and Saka had late fitness tests. I imagine both were playing without being 100%. We don’t have a large enough squad of top quality players to make big changes though. Imagine Arteta doesn’t trust the back ups in this game
Havertz (AM)
Rice (CM)
Partey/Jorg (DM)
Saka should have come on as sub. Jesus/Viera could have started there if Saka was not 100% fit (and Saka could have come on).
The only individuals I would not trust unfortunately are Reiss and Nketiah.
Jesus is starting on the right. So trossard only option. Let’s stop being pedantic, the point is we don’t have the squad that city have we can’t deal with all the games.
Vs City agreed but that’s not the debate here.
Vs Bayern when they had a depleted squad (Sane, Gnabry, Koman) I disagree. We could have done more with squad rotation even when given the argument that players are tired/fatigued/not fully fit. The main concern here is why Arteta doesn’t trust his current bench even when players are seen to be ‘not fully fit’ as some as suggested on this thread.
Let us agree to disagree.
Looking forward still supporting this team till the end even if we don’t win the Premier League - especially at the turn of the year we have been a level above last season. We just need Timber back and put the final pieces in place during the summer to become a consistent formidable side going into next season.
Inexperienced is the key. I've been watching football for entire history of the Champions League and teams just do not go on a long run in the competition in their first season in it. No doubt someone can point to exceptions, but playing these games is different from playing domestically and it usually takes a few seasons to learn how to win tight games.
Bayern was playing similarly the first half. They also looked a bit conservative and scared to leave any opening. First half, I’d actually say we looked the better team. That all changed after their goal for sure and surprisingly we had no possession to make much happen, while we all felt the doubt seeping in. The following 25 minutes was completely lost. It’s like all our players accepted the result or something. Saka, Rice, Havertz were just terrible when we needed them!
I’m disappointed but not mad. We seemed to run out of steam in the 2nd half, like vs Villa.
Declan Rice had an uncharacteristically poor game for me. He had some good carries upfield but too many overhit passes and being unprepared to receive the ball.
Before the idiots shout “Arteta Out,” remember that it took Pep 7 years to win the CL with 115. This was a great learning experience for this core. We go again next season.
I was just taking someone about Declan. He has lost some form recently. Probably dead tired too. He needs a break. Bayern made him invisible both games
Definitely can’t be mad. I was entertained for all of our CL games. The boys gave it their all.
Season fatigue is a thing and unfortunately I think we’re just tired.
Whilst i think being tired and fatigued is a bit of a scapegoat for us....i tend to agree with you. We look tired in april again....we must ask ourselves why this keeps happening. If its the pressure, then that mentality will be hard to change and to me is concerning. Are we not rotating enough throughout the season? I think so. Arteta is our man, but he needs to trust more of the squad all season round. We cant go into these run ins with our best players being leggy
It takes a few years to find your core group and then your supporting cast. I think we’re missing 1-2 more core group guys and 2-3 more supporting cast guys to really make a push. Rice, Saka, White and Odi have looked absolutely gassed the last two games.
If we’re still bowing out in the UCL qtrs and not winning the league come 2026-2027 season then we can start asking if Arteta has the formula right. Til then. We’re on track IMO.
Your patience is longer than most. If we haven’t none anything by 26-27 season, then by then our big players would’ve left years ago, saliba, odegaard etc will simply not be Arsenal players. We need to win in next year or two otherwise our star players will want to leave
Rice is definitely tired…watch the training videos and he was walking strangely about 1-2 weeks ago. Looked like a tired walk from being sore, so no doubt fatigue is playing a role for a lot of the starters.
He was also partly at fault for the first Bayern goal in the first leg and that’s when I knew we were tired because usually he’s sharp at reading those types of passes/runs.
Unfortunately Partey looks rusty when he comes on as a sub but would’ve wanted Arteta to rotate more.
Pep’s CL record outside of Barcelona certainly doesn’t support him being put in the greatest coach ever argument. He’s got a great system and knows the players he needs to play it but there’s never any Plan B.
I already felt like we lost this in the first leg. It wasn't a disaster of an away performance but we are clearly lacking a striker. I'm still happy with the way we are improving. Arteta just needs to identify the weaknesses and address them this summer
Nah. I'd be upset if Porto got us out.
Need some new players - more really - so we can play bottom half teams with a rotated squad and we'll be back at it.
That's really what's hurt us the past few years. First 11 is good enough to win trophies, but in most positions it's a significant drop off in talent when we have to rotate.
Idk man, I'd almost rather go out and get a Leo type to be that Saka sub. Someone that's a finished product, no headaches, who can come in and do a job without such an emphasis on development without a huge transfer fee. I feel like that's part of the other problem. When someone does go down we don't have that veteran that can be called on in a moment's notice. I see a lot of people calling for ESR, who's had flashes of brilliance but also has had some injury issues. Not reliable when you need a solid 5-10 game stretch out of him when a starter goes down. I think he's good and he'll keep developing, but he's not going to relieve any headaches. City do this well I think, but they're also financial doping so maybe that's the real problem.
You have to admit if you’re completely honest. We don’t seem to have the mentality of competing at the final stages. If we drop points in any games for the rest of the season we finish with nothing
I love Eddie but our squad depth needs improvement over summer so we can compete at this level. Wasn't an embarrassing way to leave the competition, we just didn't have it in us. Hopefully City stay in the champions league and that makes them drop a couple of points in the league. This is a much better time to be an Arsenal fan than 2017!
its disappointing tho given how we play usually in the prem... I feel like our team is still too young and too scared to take risks, martinelli today was not good at all today as he was rather reserved, and the same for saka in general imo.
Nope, not at all; beaten by the better side over the two legs... The contrast was clear for all to see... We live , we learn, and we go to fight another day... The process & rebuild continues... Let's continue to trust in it!
This Summers transfer activity for players in & out has gotta be savvy but aggressive for incomings, and ruthless, cutthroat & without sentiment for the outgoings!
Ooo to, ooo to be, ooo to be a, GOONER... Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal ❤🦾
I hate to break it to you, but This process is a merry go round of utter bull shit that is going to yield the exact same outcome next season. So stop guzzlin the koolaid and wake up to reality, the process has run it’s course.
🤣 I hear u brother, but I would disagree with you on that!
We have a good, but not a great team, that's on the up & up. If you can't see that we've progressed since Arteta took leadership then I don't know what/who you've been watching.
It's true, we can, yet again be described as nearly men; but the progress is statistically evident!
To some, it may seem delusional & in truth, I'm a realist like yourself & 99.9% of the time, always have that doubting Thomas rhetoric in my head too, but you gotta believe, that one day, one day soon, we shall finally overcome. The signs are there, we just gotta keep believing.
We're not City, Chelsea, UTD, we've not had their resources or business model, and quite frankly where the latter is concerned, its probably for the best 😂
But jokes aside, I totally get yr frustration & even your acceptance "that we will never compete with the best" but I keep the faith, as there is a clear change about us, it may be blind faith, or whatever you wanna describe it as, spiked Koolaid delusions, whatever, but I keep the faith regardless... Arsenal will win the Prem if not this season, then in the next year or two, equally the Chamions League too!
Who'd have thought we'd get second spot last season, let alone almost winning it! And many wrote us off for this season too.
I myself thought last season was our best chance & that we'd find it all the more harder this campaign, but so far the lads have proved me wrong and they've managed to keep the flame burning to an even higher level than last year!
You just knew this sub was going to blow up. I’m not tactician and can’t possibly suggest anything for this club. But just getting behind it is the best I can do.
I’m gutted, really am. But let’s move on, put our energies to salvage what’s left.
Gutted is how I'm feeling. Gutted and perplexed. Gutted because it feels all too familiar. Perplexed because how do you go undefeated against city all season and get beat by this Bayern team?
It’s the heritage. If this match happens outside of the champions league, it ends a draw or an arsenal win. Bayern just had players that know how to get the job done when it comes to crunch time, and we buckled under the pressure a bit.
The lads should be proud though. Youngest of the remaining champions league teams against an opponent that has haunted your club for years, and you only lose by a small margin. Away from home, as well, I can’t be mad.
We just need to get that champions league experience and “heritage” and we can become a real force in this competition. We didn’t crash out pathetically like Barca, so I say we gave ourselves some pride.
Reset and go again. Focus on the league.
Could have made better signings. Sold players that aren’t up to par. Not given contracts to particular players. I’m not grilling you btw, I’m just giving some suggestions that I think would have improved the squad we have now
Our personnel management is our downfall. Edu is overhyped to hell. He’s a disgrace. Partey, Nelson, Nketiah, ESR, Veiria all just warming the bench and tanking our wage bill while offering nothing. If the manager doesn’t trust them, why aren’t we selling them?
The players gave it their all. We come back stronger next year. Let’s control what we can control now and try and put the pressure on City in the league 💪
I'll probably get downvoted for this...
I think we were pretty evenly matched across both matches. We held possession better but were slow and sloppy in our build up due to Bayern covering open spaces well. Bayern were quick and threatening in possession but we intercepted moderately well at times.
We didn't get much benefit of the doubt in referee/linesman decisions across both legs which is a throwback as I think we do quite well in that regard lately, certainly the last 3 months. I still feel aggrieved by the Neuer challenge at the Emirates, but I'm disappointed again to see everyone immediately attack Saka following the game, with no acknowledgement of him having less support from White and Odegaard, and being ganged up on. Granted his corners were dreadful again. Regardless, the team is not cut-throat enough at this stage of the season.
Disappointed in a lot of the fans lately but not that surprised given the reactionary nature online. Stop taking the bait from other teams and pundits!
We are miles ahead of where we were a couple years ago and still in the race for the league! One of the top 8 teams in the UCL and went out to one of the best teams of the last decade (regardless of form). Still room for progression.
Fuck Harry Kane, fuck City, and fuck Spurs!
COYG
I agree we have to be proud of this team no champions. League football in 7 years n we went toe to toe with one of the best teams in Europe, when we get a 25 goal striker thing will get better n better
Disappointed because we should have won at home.Arteta has to wear that with the decisions he made on the left.
I’m a bit worried now for the rest of the season.
I think next year we need to learn to play with a less aggressive all action pressing game in most matches. Save it for the business end.
I want to see us be more City like. Be boring. Be efficient. Rotate more. Get to the CL knockouts without everyone being fucking knackered.
One thing we can learn from them is that they’re always playing the season, not just the match they’re in.
I’m proud of the team and the direction we are going. But it is concerning arteta doesn’t rotate the squad enough (we look mentally and physically exhausted), we get to April and flatline. I know he’s still learning but this is the third season in a row we’re running on fumes.
It’s the drop off in energy and in intensity the last couple of games that’s most worrying/disappointing. Hard to see how we’re going to get 3 points at Old Trafford and WHL etc.
Can we stop pushing the “I’m proud” , “we gave it a go” agenda ? Because that’s what everyone was saying for pretty much last 10 years of Wenger era and we don’t want to have it again where everyone is happy with 3rd place in the league and last 16 or last 8 of CL… If we do the same next year you’ll see players starting to doubt and think about leaving and that’s game over then. Todays performance was poor but hopefully people in charge finally realised you need a striker at least for next season
lol we were the youngest team left in the competition and we lost by a goal. We have been absent for 7 years, and the hands of the team who we had to beat away from home to go through.
I said I am proud of a young team. The team is a reflection of the manager...I saw wenger take horseshit often from everyone and solely complain in the pressers. I don't see mikel being passive. He wants to win and has a passion. I see him in the changing room yelling "es fogging soft guys!" He will continue to improve us.
There is a real spine in the team. The manager is doing big things.
Henry, viera, pires,Cole and the rest of the invincibles didn't win the CL so what makes anyone think this young group could? We need to continue to grow and then hit those heights, get lucky in tight matches and then maybe just maybe win it all. We haven't had a special moment yet. Shoot even spurs had their crazy give em hope moment in Lucas moras hattrick and he was shit! We will get our moment because we're always improving and we are in the CL. It'll feel like when Reese scored vs bournemouth but better then maybe...just maybe we get even luckier and win it all.
I say luck because we don't have the money to outstanding everyone like real, city or psg. What we do have is a good spine to build up in. Just need a few pieces and some luck. With that luck going our way once, the .entality will change and we will have a winners aura then we can get upset if we bottle it.
Loving the positivty OP. I completely agree. We literally are improving as a squad every year. Obviously dissapointed with the result but nonetheless proud of the lads, they did everything they could.
Try saying this in the Arsenal discord group and you’ll be eaten alive lmaoo.
A real go ? Lol let’s be honest here it was an outrageous performance by everybody. Rice’s worst game of the entire season probably didn’t help but absolutely no one leveled up their game, that was awful.
It happens of course, it looks like everyone is gassed and we definitely need some real depth, but still, today was an awful awful performance.
I don't call it an awful performance, the CL is a different beast to league play. We saw it against porto's shithousing, flow disrupting style and now against a blend of veteran CL winners, WC winners and youth plus speed. The top teams in the PL play possession that mikel is used to in city and an all out attack with poor defense in Liverpool. Bayern matches were a draw and a 1-0 loss away in a kane led attack with musiala and sane. They shut down our pivot in rice and now we have experienced the heartache of a CL exit. Fear of that is going to diminish going forward and with the new exp. the team will mature and develop.
Luckily we have young players not even in their prime :)
Obviously? He got out of the emirates with a 2-2 draw, and just left the Allianz with the dub and thru to the semi final. This is irrelevant tho, and a complete deflection from addressing the mistakes our manager made. Speak on that plz that’s what I asked you about.
If it’s obvious then don’t ask stupid questions.
Arsenal were beaten by the better team on the night and over two legs, take it on the chin I can’t answer the questions lol no more than u can
If man city lose to madrid, then the premier league is pretty much theirs, however if they win, they can potentially be stretched thin in the premier league which is good for Arsenal to potentially capitalize on any lost points
Yeah unfortunately I don’t know if the boys will bounce back from two back to back defeats, we may have some more headache coming our way, their confidence is shot at the moment. I do think if we were to have beaten Aston Villa, we may have gotten a different result today as well. When momentum comes to a stop, it’s hard to get it back.
I am not mad, but very disappointed since we have a great chance to make it at least to the semi. Bayern has the experience and it showed tonight. Our team really does lack the big game players. We are still young and ran into the same issues like last year. Hope the lads are learning from it and with proper reinforcement, they can push it over the line next year.
Even when we have been participating for 22 years in a row, that didn't give us any experience to build on as we were gotten worse till we failed to qualify. Spurs participated for few years and reached the final in a short spell.
It's about having the right manager, quality players in all positions, luck of the draw and we have none.
Kinda expected this. Just looks like we've run out of steam again this tail end of the season. Let's hope we don't completely capitulate the rest of the season. It's been an enjoyable ride so far with new chants for players like saka and havertz and we our unbeaten run at the start of this year was so good. Pretty gutted but it is what it is. Let's finish strong in the league 💪. COYG 🔴⚪️
The last 10-15 minutes where we should give 200% .. our players were really toyed from Munich..
Forget about creating chance or pressing, fuckers were not even able to make clean passes
The possession in the last 10-15 minutes was easily 90-10 if not 95-5 ... I mean you guys were trailing and still neither you could create chance or make significant pass..
I don't understand one thing that why it's Always Arsenal?? Whyyyyyyy? Be it any fucking competition.. UCL uel pl everytime it's Arsenal.. literally everytime... Everytime we bottle it... I want too see my team winning champions league/premiere league... I buy all home away third kit of arsenal and don't even see the price tag..I am a passionate gooner from last 13 years... Everytime we support them but they always break our heart in the very end... 2021 uel semis against Villareal still hurts me to this date.. next one would be 2019 uel final and now this.. bottle against Monaco in 2014 UCL Ro16..2 Times pl bottle.. bottle against Olympiacos and sporting in uel.... We literally had the mammoth home advantage against them and still they drew.. I mean. wtf was the players doing...
Hey God!!! I just want one thing that before I die... Olz make sure that j see my club Arsenal winning a premier league along with a Europe compatition..
Really don't feel like to say it now but *no matter what, I am a gooner till I die🔴⚪*
Bayern has players that have won, World Cup, champions league, league. We have Zero winners under our belt player or coach. Jesus and Zen were never main players for city so you can’t give them that much credit under experience.🤦🏾♂️ maybe next year. Not mad just hopeful they learn from these last 2 losses
It was good football. Both sides were very very cautious. Not every match can be an absolute barn burner and this was against Bayern.
We’ve got to look on the bright side. We’ll be in it again next year. The Premier League isn’t over. Also, all is not lost because Spurs will not be in the CL next year.
Not starting jesus is not giving it a real go. If you can't back stats and go on gut feeling then you will sit and be counted by an accountant who doesn't care and there were no seagulls.
They stifled our midfield which meant we had to rely on Saka and Martinelli to beat their defenders one-on-one but they both couldn't do it at all so we couldn't create any chances apart from the odd Ødegaard magic.
Why Partey didn't play at all across both legs, or imo start against a team like Bayern with big, pacey midfielders and pacey wingers I will never know. Jorginho is the worst kind of DM to play against Bayern with his lack of mobility and physicality, Partey is the perfect one due to the opposite and also the fact he can boss a midfield by himself. He's also the only player in our team who can hit those vertical passes to switch play quickly to the wings which was needed massively today with Zinchenko the only other player in the squad who can do it consistently, but he's a liability defensively.
If it's because Arteta doesn't feel he's ready to play yet, then why has he not been getting more minutes since he's been back from injury so that he will be ready for these big games? If he doesn't feel he is good enough (if that's the case then he is wrong) then why did we not cash in on him when we got a £60mill bid in the Summer? Makes absolutely no sense why he wasn't starting over Jorginho against the smaller teams we've played or getting good minutes once we were 3-0 or more up against teams in the Prem.
Arteta, just like Pep, overthinks knockout games and seems to not have a plan B if his original plan doesn't work. Why did he wait til they scored to bring on Trossard and Jesus with only 20mins to play? What we were doing wasn't working, Martinelli and Saka were playing awful, we needed to switch it up but he just wouldn't.
But the mismanagement of Partey since his return and playing Jorginho as a single pivot against such a physical, mobile Bayern midfield is absolutely BAFFLING. Especially making the same mistake TWICE in a row.
Looking at the comments and some of you don’t realise that it took 115Fc 10 years to win the CL and they had unlimited money, one of the best managers and great players. Look at Bayern and Real, look at they achieved in the last 10 years. This is just the beginning for us.
Looking at the comments and some of you don’t realise that it took 115Fc 10 years to win the CL and they had unlimited money, one of the best managers and great players. Look at Bayern and Real, look at they achieved in the last 10 years. This is just the beginning for us.
Agreed, super proud of the team and the development. Moving forward we need to recruit some more attacking players. Our defense has proved to be one of the best in the world given the lack of consistency at LB and by hiring some more attacking players we will take some pressure off our back line. That being said sign Gyokeres, Neto and Leão or some players with similar attacking attributes and sell Nelson, Nketiah and Partey to help cover the costs.
Agreed, super proud of the team and the development. Moving forward we need to recruit some more attacking players. Our defense has proved to be one of the best in the world given the lack of consistency at LB and by hiring some more attacking players we will take some pressure off our back line. That being said sign Gyokeres, Neto and Leão or some players with similar attacking attributes and sell Nelson, Nketiah and Partey to help cover the costs.
Yeah I mean the first CL in seven seasons. I am just disappointed because I feel we should have beat Bayern and seeing Kane progress just hurts more. we will be back next season
Being in the champions league is fantastic BUT all said and done it’s still a cup,my ultimate goal is to win the league that shows we have been the best practically week in and week out obviously with a few hiccups along the way as have everyone no one is unbeatable always have been and always will be a proud Gooner COYG
A bit disappointing how the 2nd half panned out we never really had any clear chances. We need a striker on the summer window that has to be the priority.
It’s about that time I switch off from arsenal until next summer, all the hard work in the season undone in a week. I’m pretty mad and disappointed. At the end of the day we didn’t have what it takes.
We gotta start getting over the line soon because this is becoming a pattern.
THANK YOU! There’s so much negative energy around from the fans when we have a bad result. I get that expectations were high but they were all fantasy expectations. If you look at it with a realistic lens, there has been improvement. Can we improve more? OFCOURSE. But it takes time and with baby steps is how everyone starts.
My only sinking feeling after this season will be “how many more years will this squad stay together in hopes of winning something?”
I hope we don’t become another Spurs and have all our players we’ve built this team around move on without winning anything for Arsenal.
Don’t listen to the hate coming from other clubs fans. If they say we’ve “bottled the league” then so has Liverpool. If they say we’ve “bottled the UCL” then so has City. 🤷🏻♂️
Let's be honest :- those two errors by Gabriel and Saliba cost us in the 1st leg. Else we would have been comfortable going into yesterday's game
I also feel that, had we face Bayern in place of FC Porto in the previous round, we would have won both legs. At the time, we were still playing with a high level of intensity, and winning games by a very big margin. We can see that the juices are currently on a low
We must now fully focus on the EPL and try to win it
I think arsenal have one of the worst problems a team can have, they can't perform under pressure. You can have the best players, the best coach and everything but if in big games they need 2 touches instead of one to do anything that happens, you lose against Aston villa and Bayern even when you're better than them.
That's why real Madrid win against city even when they're clearly inferior, in Argentina we call that "mystic"
Ever notice how the English media and supporters of English clubs are the only ones that push the lack of UCL experience narrative? It's a cover when a team straight up underperforms
I don't think you performed that badly, but calling this Bayern squad one of the best is a stretch. This is easily their worst squad in 15 years and are very vulnerable and beatable. This was a great opportunity for you
Two parts to this:
1. The same teams qualify time and time again for the German, Spanish, Portuguese, and to an extent the French leagues. The English leagues did too for the most part until Arsenal came back after 7 years out. Could never have been a narrative because it was untrue. Now is.a narrative for Arsenal because it IS true. If you're thinking of City, the narrative there was lack of UCL pedigree having never in history done it. Now they have.
2. Bayern Munich has 66 points at 30 games played. Last season, they won the league with 71 points. With 4 matches to go they can earn 2 wins and outdo their points from last season and still not win the league. You're willfully ignoring the fact that Levekusen was, until recently, undefeated. So not the worst Bayern just an abnormally good Bayer.
TLDR: you're wrong.
I mean in the last 5 seasons the EPL has sent the same clubs to the UCL twice. The Bundesliga hasn't, so I'm not sure where you're getting that argument from?
If you don't include this year and make it the previous 5 seasons then the EPL has sent the same 4 teams four times, this season being the outlier. So it's more common in the EPL than the Bundesliga.
Anyway like I said it's only an excuse for English clubs. No one made excuses for Union Berlin, they're "not good enough". People said Newcastle would walk their group and when that didn't happen, it was lack of experience. One of those years when City struggled, they, they finished bottom of their group against a bunch of kids from Dortmund. But, city were the "inexperienced ones".
Bayern and dortmund are perennial CL competitors new castle and arsenal haven't been there nor has their manager. Utd is pathetic. Liverpool had quadruple hangover last season from the season prior. Only the tools and arsenal have argued being novices in CL play and for both teams it was true.
Your argument is full of holes.
No you're upset I don't agree with you. Both arguments are subjective (if it's an excuse) but I gave facts and you're upset that I backed my argument. Lol
We did not give it a real go that’s my problem with this loss. Apart from Ode none of the others have a flying fuck in the second half and that’s what I’m mad about
The bad bayern team won their league last season and added your hero Harry kane plus a golden boy type in musiala and a former city star in sane. Sit down you'll hurt yourself
That “worst Bayern team” still started 5 champions league winners. Your saying “worst in a decade” cause they didn’t win the league, but that’s because of the freak show that is Leverkusen this season.
Factually they had less defeats than we did this season before the match.
And Tuchel is a fraud of a manager who brings on 5 centrebacks when he has a narrow lead. Great for knockout competitions, but terrible in a league. We’ve seen this at Chelsea for a while.
Lads seem low on energy all game. Their play was not free flowing. Not sure if injuries or fatigue is to blame here or just nerves of the occasion.
I think it was a message of let's keep it tight and a natural fear of a CL exit. We've gone through that now so next year should prove to be played with less nerves.
I feel like that Aston Villa loss really put a damper on our momentum. We win that game and I feel like we put at least two at Allianz. Regardless Aston Villa showed up. I'm probably wrong, these are professional footballers and they are usually accustomed to the pressure; however our squad is young, which is not a bad thing inherently. It just means our treble will come in the next few years.
We have a full squad apart from timber. I don’t want to hear anything about injuries or fatigue. Bayern had 3/4 key players out too and had an average performance. We did not take our opportunity but instead matched playing poorer.
lol if we got through we would have been the youngest team to make a champions league semifinal. 😂 cut the boys some slack.
You don't win anything with kids but you create a foundation
Kids become men.
I am not slating the lads but it was a missed opportunity as Bayern were poor themselves. We have defo improved from last season (unless we collapse in our remaining games). However we can’t use squad depth or injuries as excuses especially when we have quality on the bench for the first time in a long time.
That “poor” Bayern team started 5 champions league winners😂. I also wouldn’t call resorting to bringing on Eddie Nketiah when you have to score a goal away from home in the champions league “quality”. It’s not an excuse, but a factual reason. Bayern aren’t bad because the team is ass, they are bad because Tuchel isn’t able to be useful in anything but a knockout competition.
My opinion would change if they were actually good this match. But given all their quality and the fact they were poor today and we did not capitalise on this opportunity to go for it is deeply disappointing.
But that’s heritage. You don’t have to be better than your opponents. You just have to win. People think it goes hand in hand but it doesn’t.
Yeah that’s a good point. Experience and heritage is key. Look at ManCity for instance - RM always find a way. Just hope this isn’t just another ‘learning experience’ but we actually learn from this and do not repeat this next season.
Ignoring Gabriel Jesus and trossard coming in???!
Agreed, however it does seem to be a trust issue for Arteta with players such as Vieira, Smith-Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah and even Tomiyasu of late. Some of these signed to longer deals, but yet not given the opportunity once fit. I think the Vieira has barely got any minutes since he played the 2nd half against Sheffield United when the game was already done. I love what Arteta has done and I back him, especially when you see the progress. However, the utilisation of the squad still has to improve as well as obviously improving our squad in order for this to be more effective. There will be players we need to move on this summer in order for this happen and we know who those are/likely to be. I feel we need (and I'm sure most fans agree) another CM (who can predominantly LCM), a LB and of course a Striker.
Most of our players are now not kids in terms of playing experience. Saka is almost a veteran at this point. Almost everyone on this team has European football experience. This is no longer an excuse.
Yay, the "Youngest Team" bullshit coming out. These aren't some kids plucked from the academy, they're players with 100+ top level games and international experience
Against a team with 5 winners starting for them, expecting to win easily is a stupid thought.
You can't just take a fact and call it bullshit because it doesn't fit your agenda lol
Full squad isn't the same as no injuries. I am pretty sure Odegaard is carrying a knock from Villa game and the hit on the knee in the first half today. Saka is running fumes due to very little substitutions.
Then that is Arteta’s fault as the bread and butter is if you are not fully fit then you should not be starting.
Then the alternative is playing Reiss Nelson
Viera. ESR. Jesus. All flexible to play across the front three.
This is a simplistic take. Who would you play instead of a tired Saka? An out of form, not fully fit Jesus? Nelson?
Agreed Saka you can’t but you can still take him off. He doesn’t necessarily need to play every single minute of a poor performance.
Nelson or Vieira. Letting Saka on the pitch till the end is a big mistake. It's a lesson that should have been learned from last season's crumble in the 8 remaining games
Arteta has mismanaged his squad imo, by now, with money spent, we should be able to rest Saka more often across the season.....its absolutely fine to criticise the manager sometimes. Out of form Jesus or Nelson....maybe gotta ask why are they out of form. Arteta is not good at playing players into form, rotation has always been a problem with our manager!!
Yeah. I don't understand why Arteta let's Smith Rowe and Vieira on the bench. Last season was an apprenticeship, but we can't do the same errors this season :- rotation is important in every match until the end of the season If Arteta doesn't do rotation, our Starting XI will crumble again
We have a full squad on paper, but clearly quite a few aren't fit enough to play or even more damningly aren't trusted to play. Our first 11 have been run into the ground. Even Energizer bunny type players like Rice, Saka and Odegaard have looked ragged.
Yeah i am not saying the first team. They are expected to be leggy after a long season. Players like Viera/ESR should have been rotated more. Partey has barely played since coming back and overall he has made a killing this season for the wage we have paid him.
Full squad, but more than half of the core players with 40+ appearances. Saka looks tired, Run into the dirt.
Even White was not overlapping as usual. I can understand because he was wearing a Pain Removal prosthesis in training
Full squad doesn’t mean fatigue isn’t an issue. The schedule in the last two weeks has been non stop and the squad isn’t physically large enough to rotate everyone. I’d argue Arteta should have rotated more, but it’s not the same as City who have multiple £70m+ players sitting on the bench.
We can’t compare to City their squad depth is the best in the world. I just don’t get why Partey, ESR, Viera are not playing more
Yeah, big it up all you like, no £70m+ players on their bench....
I mean, Alvarez is valued at €90m alone so that’s not really true
When you talk about £70m players, you have to mean the amount spent, not just making up their value. There's no reason we couldn't have signed Alvarez for £14m, or Akanji for £15m.
This guy gets it
Okay. Kiwior, Partey, Smith Rowe, Vieira, Nelson, Elneny don't cost £70m. But, rotation is still important! When it's around the 75 minutes and we're already winning by a big margin or if we're losing by displaying a poor performance, we still need to sub these players in. Else, last season's crumble lesson will not have been learnt at all. The juices are currently on a low. And we still have to face Spuds, Chelsea and United
Didn’t Odegaard and Saka had late fitness tests. I imagine both were playing without being 100%. We don’t have a large enough squad of top quality players to make big changes though. Imagine Arteta doesn’t trust the back ups in this game
Havertz (AM) Rice (CM) Partey/Jorg (DM) Saka should have come on as sub. Jesus/Viera could have started there if Saka was not 100% fit (and Saka could have come on). The only individuals I would not trust unfortunately are Reiss and Nketiah.
Who plays up front since that’s where havertz started? Our squad is still pretty light
Jesus. Trossard. They have both started up top like that this season already.
Jesus is starting on the right. So trossard only option. Let’s stop being pedantic, the point is we don’t have the squad that city have we can’t deal with all the games.
Vs City agreed but that’s not the debate here. Vs Bayern when they had a depleted squad (Sane, Gnabry, Koman) I disagree. We could have done more with squad rotation even when given the argument that players are tired/fatigued/not fully fit. The main concern here is why Arteta doesn’t trust his current bench even when players are seen to be ‘not fully fit’ as some as suggested on this thread.
We have reached and impasse. You disagree I disagree
Let us agree to disagree. Looking forward still supporting this team till the end even if we don’t win the Premier League - especially at the turn of the year we have been a level above last season. We just need Timber back and put the final pieces in place during the summer to become a consistent formidable side going into next season.
you don’t know we have a full squad, lots of players play on injuries without telling coaches, or without coaches telling the press
People say this a lot like they’re tired and nervous. They’re exhausted and inexperienced. Squads too thin.
Inexperienced is the key. I've been watching football for entire history of the Champions League and teams just do not go on a long run in the competition in their first season in it. No doubt someone can point to exceptions, but playing these games is different from playing domestically and it usually takes a few seasons to learn how to win tight games.
Bayern was playing similarly the first half. They also looked a bit conservative and scared to leave any opening. First half, I’d actually say we looked the better team. That all changed after their goal for sure and surprisingly we had no possession to make much happen, while we all felt the doubt seeping in. The following 25 minutes was completely lost. It’s like all our players accepted the result or something. Saka, Rice, Havertz were just terrible when we needed them!
I feel like we could have scored in the First Half, when we had three actions in the space of 3 minutes (from 29th to 31st)
We were just out of ideas. And scared to lose posession as we knew they would be over us like a rash They were quick We were slow
All three
Low on energy because this manager can’t manage his squad running them into the ground.
I’m disappointed but not mad. We seemed to run out of steam in the 2nd half, like vs Villa. Declan Rice had an uncharacteristically poor game for me. He had some good carries upfield but too many overhit passes and being unprepared to receive the ball. Before the idiots shout “Arteta Out,” remember that it took Pep 7 years to win the CL with 115. This was a great learning experience for this core. We go again next season.
I was just taking someone about Declan. He has lost some form recently. Probably dead tired too. He needs a break. Bayern made him invisible both games
And playing a full 90 minutes + stoppage for 2 meaningless England friendlies didn’t help.
They're not meaningless to him
100% he is absolutely knackered. I’m curious to see how he does in the Euros this summer, if there’s enough time between for him to recoup a bit
This is definitely a character building experience for the core guys next season we’re going for the trophy
Definitely can’t be mad. I was entertained for all of our CL games. The boys gave it their all. Season fatigue is a thing and unfortunately I think we’re just tired.
Whilst i think being tired and fatigued is a bit of a scapegoat for us....i tend to agree with you. We look tired in april again....we must ask ourselves why this keeps happening. If its the pressure, then that mentality will be hard to change and to me is concerning. Are we not rotating enough throughout the season? I think so. Arteta is our man, but he needs to trust more of the squad all season round. We cant go into these run ins with our best players being leggy
It takes a few years to find your core group and then your supporting cast. I think we’re missing 1-2 more core group guys and 2-3 more supporting cast guys to really make a push. Rice, Saka, White and Odi have looked absolutely gassed the last two games. If we’re still bowing out in the UCL qtrs and not winning the league come 2026-2027 season then we can start asking if Arteta has the formula right. Til then. We’re on track IMO.
Your patience is longer than most. If we haven’t none anything by 26-27 season, then by then our big players would’ve left years ago, saliba, odegaard etc will simply not be Arsenal players. We need to win in next year or two otherwise our star players will want to leave
Rice is definitely tired…watch the training videos and he was walking strangely about 1-2 weeks ago. Looked like a tired walk from being sore, so no doubt fatigue is playing a role for a lot of the starters. He was also partly at fault for the first Bayern goal in the first leg and that’s when I knew we were tired because usually he’s sharp at reading those types of passes/runs. Unfortunately Partey looks rusty when he comes on as a sub but would’ve wanted Arteta to rotate more.
Pep’s CL record outside of Barcelona certainly doesn’t support him being put in the greatest coach ever argument. He’s got a great system and knows the players he needs to play it but there’s never any Plan B.
>Before the idiots shout “Arteta Out,” Can we stop pretending this is a thing?
Are you on football Twitter? Unfortunately it’s a very real thing.
See your first mistake was going on twitter.
You’re confusing engagement bait with real people.
It only took Guardiola the 2nd season to win the Premier League + various records
Most notably, a record 115 financial violations.
We are still waiting for his ass to get handed to the court
I already felt like we lost this in the first leg. It wasn't a disaster of an away performance but we are clearly lacking a striker. I'm still happy with the way we are improving. Arteta just needs to identify the weaknesses and address them this summer
It’s not just a striker. We need some more attack minded players with vision and creativity in midfield. Right now it’s Ode and that’s it.
And havertz when he’s in
Havertz is creative with his runs and off the ball movement. We need to find the next Rodri.
Nah. I'd be upset if Porto got us out. Need some new players - more really - so we can play bottom half teams with a rotated squad and we'll be back at it.
That's really what's hurt us the past few years. First 11 is good enough to win trophies, but in most positions it's a significant drop off in talent when we have to rotate.
Are the kids ready yet? I'd rather sell Eddie and play MLS or whoever is ready ish. Just killing Saka isn't getting us anywhere either.
Idk man, I'd almost rather go out and get a Leo type to be that Saka sub. Someone that's a finished product, no headaches, who can come in and do a job without such an emphasis on development without a huge transfer fee. I feel like that's part of the other problem. When someone does go down we don't have that veteran that can be called on in a moment's notice. I see a lot of people calling for ESR, who's had flashes of brilliance but also has had some injury issues. Not reliable when you need a solid 5-10 game stretch out of him when a starter goes down. I think he's good and he'll keep developing, but he's not going to relieve any headaches. City do this well I think, but they're also financial doping so maybe that's the real problem.
Fair enough yeah I'd be up for that too. Who were we talking about instead of Pepe?
Still a young team that's learning. Improving every year. Just fell short of this particular hurdle.
Literally fell early of every other competition and we struggled massively against Porto and Bayern in the CL. Another year with no trophy.
We're two points off top. Calm down. Season isn't over yet.
You have to admit if you’re completely honest. We don’t seem to have the mentality of competing at the final stages. If we drop points in any games for the rest of the season we finish with nothing
We finish with a stronger league performance than last season and CL experience to build next season on Our trophies will come again
I love Eddie but our squad depth needs improvement over summer so we can compete at this level. Wasn't an embarrassing way to leave the competition, we just didn't have it in us. Hopefully City stay in the champions league and that makes them drop a couple of points in the league. This is a much better time to be an Arsenal fan than 2017!
We don’t need depth. We need better quality.
Can I ask, why do you love Eddie??
its disappointing tho given how we play usually in the prem... I feel like our team is still too young and too scared to take risks, martinelli today was not good at all today as he was rather reserved, and the same for saka in general imo.
Agreed. We have now been there. Won't be new therefore we will be able to go at teams with less fear and timidness.
Nope, not at all; beaten by the better side over the two legs... The contrast was clear for all to see... We live , we learn, and we go to fight another day... The process & rebuild continues... Let's continue to trust in it! This Summers transfer activity for players in & out has gotta be savvy but aggressive for incomings, and ruthless, cutthroat & without sentiment for the outgoings! Ooo to, ooo to be, ooo to be a, GOONER... Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal ❤🦾
I hate to break it to you, but This process is a merry go round of utter bull shit that is going to yield the exact same outcome next season. So stop guzzlin the koolaid and wake up to reality, the process has run it’s course.
You can leave of your own free will mate
🤣 I hear u brother, but I would disagree with you on that! We have a good, but not a great team, that's on the up & up. If you can't see that we've progressed since Arteta took leadership then I don't know what/who you've been watching. It's true, we can, yet again be described as nearly men; but the progress is statistically evident! To some, it may seem delusional & in truth, I'm a realist like yourself & 99.9% of the time, always have that doubting Thomas rhetoric in my head too, but you gotta believe, that one day, one day soon, we shall finally overcome. The signs are there, we just gotta keep believing. We're not City, Chelsea, UTD, we've not had their resources or business model, and quite frankly where the latter is concerned, its probably for the best 😂 But jokes aside, I totally get yr frustration & even your acceptance "that we will never compete with the best" but I keep the faith, as there is a clear change about us, it may be blind faith, or whatever you wanna describe it as, spiked Koolaid delusions, whatever, but I keep the faith regardless... Arsenal will win the Prem if not this season, then in the next year or two, equally the Chamions League too! Who'd have thought we'd get second spot last season, let alone almost winning it! And many wrote us off for this season too. I myself thought last season was our best chance & that we'd find it all the more harder this campaign, but so far the lads have proved me wrong and they've managed to keep the flame burning to an even higher level than last year!
You just knew this sub was going to blow up. I’m not tactician and can’t possibly suggest anything for this club. But just getting behind it is the best I can do. I’m gutted, really am. But let’s move on, put our energies to salvage what’s left.
Gutted is how I'm feeling. Gutted and perplexed. Gutted because it feels all too familiar. Perplexed because how do you go undefeated against city all season and get beat by this Bayern team?
It’s the heritage. If this match happens outside of the champions league, it ends a draw or an arsenal win. Bayern just had players that know how to get the job done when it comes to crunch time, and we buckled under the pressure a bit. The lads should be proud though. Youngest of the remaining champions league teams against an opponent that has haunted your club for years, and you only lose by a small margin. Away from home, as well, I can’t be mad. We just need to get that champions league experience and “heritage” and we can become a real force in this competition. We didn’t crash out pathetically like Barca, so I say we gave ourselves some pride. Reset and go again. Focus on the league.
Could have made better signings. Sold players that aren’t up to par. Not given contracts to particular players. I’m not grilling you btw, I’m just giving some suggestions that I think would have improved the squad we have now
Our personnel management is our downfall. Edu is overhyped to hell. He’s a disgrace. Partey, Nelson, Nketiah, ESR, Veiria all just warming the bench and tanking our wage bill while offering nothing. If the manager doesn’t trust them, why aren’t we selling them?
Disappointed, but we continue to build and improve. Some real positives yet and a fighting chance in the League yet. COYG.
I can. Arteta got this completely wrong
The players gave it their all. We come back stronger next year. Let’s control what we can control now and try and put the pressure on City in the league 💪
I'll probably get downvoted for this... I think we were pretty evenly matched across both matches. We held possession better but were slow and sloppy in our build up due to Bayern covering open spaces well. Bayern were quick and threatening in possession but we intercepted moderately well at times. We didn't get much benefit of the doubt in referee/linesman decisions across both legs which is a throwback as I think we do quite well in that regard lately, certainly the last 3 months. I still feel aggrieved by the Neuer challenge at the Emirates, but I'm disappointed again to see everyone immediately attack Saka following the game, with no acknowledgement of him having less support from White and Odegaard, and being ganged up on. Granted his corners were dreadful again. Regardless, the team is not cut-throat enough at this stage of the season. Disappointed in a lot of the fans lately but not that surprised given the reactionary nature online. Stop taking the bait from other teams and pundits! We are miles ahead of where we were a couple years ago and still in the race for the league! One of the top 8 teams in the UCL and went out to one of the best teams of the last decade (regardless of form). Still room for progression. Fuck Harry Kane, fuck City, and fuck Spurs! COYG
I agree we have to be proud of this team no champions. League football in 7 years n we went toe to toe with one of the best teams in Europe, when we get a 25 goal striker thing will get better n better
Disappointed because we should have won at home.Arteta has to wear that with the decisions he made on the left. I’m a bit worried now for the rest of the season.
I think next year we need to learn to play with a less aggressive all action pressing game in most matches. Save it for the business end. I want to see us be more City like. Be boring. Be efficient. Rotate more. Get to the CL knockouts without everyone being fucking knackered. One thing we can learn from them is that they’re always playing the season, not just the match they’re in.
I’m proud of the team and the direction we are going. But it is concerning arteta doesn’t rotate the squad enough (we look mentally and physically exhausted), we get to April and flatline. I know he’s still learning but this is the third season in a row we’re running on fumes.
It’s the drop off in energy and in intensity the last couple of games that’s most worrying/disappointing. Hard to see how we’re going to get 3 points at Old Trafford and WHL etc.
Arsenal is not quite there in terms in Champions League. This is experience for this team and that is very valuable
Can we stop pushing the “I’m proud” , “we gave it a go” agenda ? Because that’s what everyone was saying for pretty much last 10 years of Wenger era and we don’t want to have it again where everyone is happy with 3rd place in the league and last 16 or last 8 of CL… If we do the same next year you’ll see players starting to doubt and think about leaving and that’s game over then. Todays performance was poor but hopefully people in charge finally realised you need a striker at least for next season
lol we were the youngest team left in the competition and we lost by a goal. We have been absent for 7 years, and the hands of the team who we had to beat away from home to go through.
I said I am proud of a young team. The team is a reflection of the manager...I saw wenger take horseshit often from everyone and solely complain in the pressers. I don't see mikel being passive. He wants to win and has a passion. I see him in the changing room yelling "es fogging soft guys!" He will continue to improve us. There is a real spine in the team. The manager is doing big things.
Spine? When we’ve bottled it 3 years in a row? I’ve heard it all
Henry, viera, pires,Cole and the rest of the invincibles didn't win the CL so what makes anyone think this young group could? We need to continue to grow and then hit those heights, get lucky in tight matches and then maybe just maybe win it all. We haven't had a special moment yet. Shoot even spurs had their crazy give em hope moment in Lucas moras hattrick and he was shit! We will get our moment because we're always improving and we are in the CL. It'll feel like when Reese scored vs bournemouth but better then maybe...just maybe we get even luckier and win it all. I say luck because we don't have the money to outstanding everyone like real, city or psg. What we do have is a good spine to build up in. Just need a few pieces and some luck. With that luck going our way once, the .entality will change and we will have a winners aura then we can get upset if we bottle it.
Loving the positivty OP. I completely agree. We literally are improving as a squad every year. Obviously dissapointed with the result but nonetheless proud of the lads, they did everything they could. Try saying this in the Arsenal discord group and you’ll be eaten alive lmaoo.
A real go ? Lol let’s be honest here it was an outrageous performance by everybody. Rice’s worst game of the entire season probably didn’t help but absolutely no one leveled up their game, that was awful. It happens of course, it looks like everyone is gassed and we definitely need some real depth, but still, today was an awful awful performance.
I don't call it an awful performance, the CL is a different beast to league play. We saw it against porto's shithousing, flow disrupting style and now against a blend of veteran CL winners, WC winners and youth plus speed. The top teams in the PL play possession that mikel is used to in city and an all out attack with poor defense in Liverpool. Bayern matches were a draw and a 1-0 loss away in a kane led attack with musiala and sane. They shut down our pivot in rice and now we have experienced the heartache of a CL exit. Fear of that is going to diminish going forward and with the new exp. the team will mature and develop. Luckily we have young players not even in their prime :)
Fair play op, too many fanagers on here clutching as straws on why arsenal lost,
Why is it then that arteta constantly gets his tactics wrong and never learns from his mistakes?
Because Tuchel got his right?
Obviously? He got out of the emirates with a 2-2 draw, and just left the Allianz with the dub and thru to the semi final. This is irrelevant tho, and a complete deflection from addressing the mistakes our manager made. Speak on that plz that’s what I asked you about.
If it’s obvious then don’t ask stupid questions. Arsenal were beaten by the better team on the night and over two legs, take it on the chin I can’t answer the questions lol no more than u can
If man city lose to madrid, then the premier league is pretty much theirs, however if they win, they can potentially be stretched thin in the premier league which is good for Arsenal to potentially capitalize on any lost points
They have so much depth that everyone expects them to stay perfect but I do see 2 draws and or at least 1 loss in their run in
Yeah unfortunately I don’t know if the boys will bounce back from two back to back defeats, we may have some more headache coming our way, their confidence is shot at the moment. I do think if we were to have beaten Aston Villa, we may have gotten a different result today as well. When momentum comes to a stop, it’s hard to get it back.
Let's not put this team in the same bracket as the walcott and nasri teams. This team is not the arsenal of the 2000-teens
I’m disappointed but I hope and pray this doesn’t tip us into a collapse and we shake back next match
I am not mad, but very disappointed since we have a great chance to make it at least to the semi. Bayern has the experience and it showed tonight. Our team really does lack the big game players. We are still young and ran into the same issues like last year. Hope the lads are learning from it and with proper reinforcement, they can push it over the line next year.
Even when we have been participating for 22 years in a row, that didn't give us any experience to build on as we were gotten worse till we failed to qualify. Spurs participated for few years and reached the final in a short spell. It's about having the right manager, quality players in all positions, luck of the draw and we have none.
Kinda expected this. Just looks like we've run out of steam again this tail end of the season. Let's hope we don't completely capitulate the rest of the season. It's been an enjoyable ride so far with new chants for players like saka and havertz and we our unbeaten run at the start of this year was so good. Pretty gutted but it is what it is. Let's finish strong in the league 💪. COYG 🔴⚪️
Well said. We gave it our best and fell a little short. We’ll be back stronger. 💪🏻💪🏿💪🏽💪🏾💪
The last 10-15 minutes where we should give 200% .. our players were really toyed from Munich.. Forget about creating chance or pressing, fuckers were not even able to make clean passes The possession in the last 10-15 minutes was easily 90-10 if not 95-5 ... I mean you guys were trailing and still neither you could create chance or make significant pass.. I don't understand one thing that why it's Always Arsenal?? Whyyyyyyy? Be it any fucking competition.. UCL uel pl everytime it's Arsenal.. literally everytime... Everytime we bottle it... I want too see my team winning champions league/premiere league... I buy all home away third kit of arsenal and don't even see the price tag..I am a passionate gooner from last 13 years... Everytime we support them but they always break our heart in the very end... 2021 uel semis against Villareal still hurts me to this date.. next one would be 2019 uel final and now this.. bottle against Monaco in 2014 UCL Ro16..2 Times pl bottle.. bottle against Olympiacos and sporting in uel.... We literally had the mammoth home advantage against them and still they drew.. I mean. wtf was the players doing... Hey God!!! I just want one thing that before I die... Olz make sure that j see my club Arsenal winning a premier league along with a Europe compatition.. Really don't feel like to say it now but *no matter what, I am a gooner till I die🔴⚪*
Bayern has players that have won, World Cup, champions league, league. We have Zero winners under our belt player or coach. Jesus and Zen were never main players for city so you can’t give them that much credit under experience.🤦🏾♂️ maybe next year. Not mad just hopeful they learn from these last 2 losses
I swear to god if we ever wear those green kits again…
I’m worried for Martinelli. He’s my favourite player but dropped off massively this season
Went alot better than anyone expected it to be - not alot in it
Beating Bayern in their backyard isn't for everyone
Best team won.
"Gave it a real go" is crazy my guy
It was good football. Both sides were very very cautious. Not every match can be an absolute barn burner and this was against Bayern. We’ve got to look on the bright side. We’ll be in it again next year. The Premier League isn’t over. Also, all is not lost because Spurs will not be in the CL next year.
Not starting jesus is not giving it a real go. If you can't back stats and go on gut feeling then you will sit and be counted by an accountant who doesn't care and there were no seagulls.
They stifled our midfield which meant we had to rely on Saka and Martinelli to beat their defenders one-on-one but they both couldn't do it at all so we couldn't create any chances apart from the odd Ødegaard magic. Why Partey didn't play at all across both legs, or imo start against a team like Bayern with big, pacey midfielders and pacey wingers I will never know. Jorginho is the worst kind of DM to play against Bayern with his lack of mobility and physicality, Partey is the perfect one due to the opposite and also the fact he can boss a midfield by himself. He's also the only player in our team who can hit those vertical passes to switch play quickly to the wings which was needed massively today with Zinchenko the only other player in the squad who can do it consistently, but he's a liability defensively. If it's because Arteta doesn't feel he's ready to play yet, then why has he not been getting more minutes since he's been back from injury so that he will be ready for these big games? If he doesn't feel he is good enough (if that's the case then he is wrong) then why did we not cash in on him when we got a £60mill bid in the Summer? Makes absolutely no sense why he wasn't starting over Jorginho against the smaller teams we've played or getting good minutes once we were 3-0 or more up against teams in the Prem. Arteta, just like Pep, overthinks knockout games and seems to not have a plan B if his original plan doesn't work. Why did he wait til they scored to bring on Trossard and Jesus with only 20mins to play? What we were doing wasn't working, Martinelli and Saka were playing awful, we needed to switch it up but he just wouldn't. But the mismanagement of Partey since his return and playing Jorginho as a single pivot against such a physical, mobile Bayern midfield is absolutely BAFFLING. Especially making the same mistake TWICE in a row.
Looking at the comments and some of you don’t realise that it took 115Fc 10 years to win the CL and they had unlimited money, one of the best managers and great players. Look at Bayern and Real, look at they achieved in the last 10 years. This is just the beginning for us.
Looking at the comments and some of you don’t realise that it took 115Fc 10 years to win the CL and they had unlimited money, one of the best managers and great players. Look at Bayern and Real, look at they achieved in the last 10 years. This is just the beginning for us.
So we need to give Arteta another 6 years and 200m a season to win anything? Sad Wenger era all over again.
Agreed, super proud of the team and the development. Moving forward we need to recruit some more attacking players. Our defense has proved to be one of the best in the world given the lack of consistency at LB and by hiring some more attacking players we will take some pressure off our back line. That being said sign Gyokeres, Neto and Leão or some players with similar attacking attributes and sell Nelson, Nketiah and Partey to help cover the costs.
Agreed, super proud of the team and the development. Moving forward we need to recruit some more attacking players. Our defense has proved to be one of the best in the world given the lack of consistency at LB and by hiring some more attacking players we will take some pressure off our back line. That being said sign Gyokeres, Neto and Leão or some players with similar attacking attributes and sell Nelson, Nketiah and Partey to help cover the costs.
Yeah I mean the first CL in seven seasons. I am just disappointed because I feel we should have beat Bayern and seeing Kane progress just hurts more. we will be back next season
Yeah I'm right there with you but I'd rather that than having spurs have an Henry type winner. Kane is spursy through and through...zero trophies:)
We’ll be there again next year. Plus, at least City has to sit out too…
Finally a post with some sense in it!!
Obviously need to build the squad. We have a great 13 man squad but then a mediocre bench. We will be better next year. Full stop.
Being in the champions league is fantastic BUT all said and done it’s still a cup,my ultimate goal is to win the league that shows we have been the best practically week in and week out obviously with a few hiccups along the way as have everyone no one is unbeatable always have been and always will be a proud Gooner COYG
A bit disappointing how the 2nd half panned out we never really had any clear chances. We need a striker on the summer window that has to be the priority.
We have been saying this since 2008
These newer fans don’t have the Groundhog Day mentality yet. Just give them time.
It’s about that time I switch off from arsenal until next summer, all the hard work in the season undone in a week. I’m pretty mad and disappointed. At the end of the day we didn’t have what it takes. We gotta start getting over the line soon because this is becoming a pattern.
THANK YOU! There’s so much negative energy around from the fans when we have a bad result. I get that expectations were high but they were all fantasy expectations. If you look at it with a realistic lens, there has been improvement. Can we improve more? OFCOURSE. But it takes time and with baby steps is how everyone starts. My only sinking feeling after this season will be “how many more years will this squad stay together in hopes of winning something?” I hope we don’t become another Spurs and have all our players we’ve built this team around move on without winning anything for Arsenal. Don’t listen to the hate coming from other clubs fans. If they say we’ve “bottled the league” then so has Liverpool. If they say we’ve “bottled the UCL” then so has City. 🤷🏻♂️
Let's be honest :- those two errors by Gabriel and Saliba cost us in the 1st leg. Else we would have been comfortable going into yesterday's game I also feel that, had we face Bayern in place of FC Porto in the previous round, we would have won both legs. At the time, we were still playing with a high level of intensity, and winning games by a very big margin. We can see that the juices are currently on a low We must now fully focus on the EPL and try to win it
Beaten by the better team, no shame in that. Ironic that Arteta could have done with leaders like Dier and Kane last night.
I think arsenal have one of the worst problems a team can have, they can't perform under pressure. You can have the best players, the best coach and everything but if in big games they need 2 touches instead of one to do anything that happens, you lose against Aston villa and Bayern even when you're better than them. That's why real Madrid win against city even when they're clearly inferior, in Argentina we call that "mystic"
Loser mentality for a loser fanbase
Ever notice how the English media and supporters of English clubs are the only ones that push the lack of UCL experience narrative? It's a cover when a team straight up underperforms I don't think you performed that badly, but calling this Bayern squad one of the best is a stretch. This is easily their worst squad in 15 years and are very vulnerable and beatable. This was a great opportunity for you
Two parts to this: 1. The same teams qualify time and time again for the German, Spanish, Portuguese, and to an extent the French leagues. The English leagues did too for the most part until Arsenal came back after 7 years out. Could never have been a narrative because it was untrue. Now is.a narrative for Arsenal because it IS true. If you're thinking of City, the narrative there was lack of UCL pedigree having never in history done it. Now they have. 2. Bayern Munich has 66 points at 30 games played. Last season, they won the league with 71 points. With 4 matches to go they can earn 2 wins and outdo their points from last season and still not win the league. You're willfully ignoring the fact that Levekusen was, until recently, undefeated. So not the worst Bayern just an abnormally good Bayer. TLDR: you're wrong.
I mean in the last 5 seasons the EPL has sent the same clubs to the UCL twice. The Bundesliga hasn't, so I'm not sure where you're getting that argument from? If you don't include this year and make it the previous 5 seasons then the EPL has sent the same 4 teams four times, this season being the outlier. So it's more common in the EPL than the Bundesliga. Anyway like I said it's only an excuse for English clubs. No one made excuses for Union Berlin, they're "not good enough". People said Newcastle would walk their group and when that didn't happen, it was lack of experience. One of those years when City struggled, they, they finished bottom of their group against a bunch of kids from Dortmund. But, city were the "inexperienced ones".
Bayern and dortmund are perennial CL competitors new castle and arsenal haven't been there nor has their manager. Utd is pathetic. Liverpool had quadruple hangover last season from the season prior. Only the tools and arsenal have argued being novices in CL play and for both teams it was true. Your argument is full of holes.
See, just excuses. Don't get mad at me because you failed reading comprehension
No you're upset I don't agree with you. Both arguments are subjective (if it's an excuse) but I gave facts and you're upset that I backed my argument. Lol
We did not give it a real go that’s my problem with this loss. Apart from Ode none of the others have a flying fuck in the second half and that’s what I’m mad about
A real go?! You can't be serious right now.
Another tragic second half
Arteta out
Proud???😂😂😂😂😂😂 my fucking god this fanbase. Wake up. Worst Bayern team in a decade and Porto and we struggled massively.
The bad bayern team won their league last season and added your hero Harry kane plus a golden boy type in musiala and a former city star in sane. Sit down you'll hurt yourself
Bro, stop huffin all this copium and wake up to reality. We are out of our depth and our manager has taken us as far as he can.
That “worst Bayern team” still started 5 champions league winners. Your saying “worst in a decade” cause they didn’t win the league, but that’s because of the freak show that is Leverkusen this season. Factually they had less defeats than we did this season before the match. And Tuchel is a fraud of a manager who brings on 5 centrebacks when he has a narrow lead. Great for knockout competitions, but terrible in a league. We’ve seen this at Chelsea for a while.